Chapter 10: The Bug Brigade

The sun was just hitting its peak when Alex finally started out for Viridian Forest. He had been delayed from leaving after his battle with Taylor because he wanted to make sure all his Pokémon partners were healthy, especially Starly who had taken quite a shock from Taylor's Elekid. While waiting on his Pokémon he had been discussing his adventure with some of the other travelers in the Pokémon Center. All of them seemed to agree that if he were to go to Viridian Forest that he should bring plenty of Antidotes as the forest was literally crawling with poisonous bug type Pokémon.

The walk towards the forest was not a long one as Viridian Forest rested about a half mile outside the town it took its name from. Though short the walk was mostly up hill and therefore took a while longer than intended so Alex decided to have a break before entering the woods.

All of a sudden two young trainers came running from the main path of the woods terror on their faces. The trainers looked to be around twelve a boy and a girl. The boy was tall, very tan and dressed head to toe in a bug catcher's uniform. The girl was dressed similarly but was of normal height and unlike her friend blonde hair could be seen from underneath her brimmed hat with bug shield attached.

"What happened to you guys?" Alex asked startled by their sudden appearance "You look like you just saw a ghost." The two looked at each other and the boy spoke in a small voice obviously still shaken up.

"It was the Warriors of the Woods. They took our Pokémon." He said with a shudder

"Who is that?" Alex questioned confused. Judging by the looks on the duo's faces they were just as surprised he did not know who they were referring to as he was that a group called the Warriors of the Woods could inspire this much fear. "And why did they take your Pokémon?"

"They're a group of really tough trainers who demand a toll to go through the woods." The girl replied in a voice barely above a whimper. "We didn't have the money so we tried to sneak by. But their bug Pokémon spotted us and they caught us."

"So they took your Pokémon because you wouldn't pay them, is that right?" After receiving nods indicating that this was what had happened. "Ok I tell you what I am going to go in there and have a talk with them and I think you'll find that they will be more than willing to return your Pokémon." Alex reassured them with a mischievous grin.

"You would do that for strangers?" the girls asked in amazement

"Sure I would." Alex responded thinking to himself of how to best handle these bullies. From what the bug catchers had said they had bug Pokémon which meant if it came to a battle this would be a good place for Starly or Magnemite to get some good practice for the next gym. "Now show me where these 'Warriors' are."

"They have a hideout in the back of the woods where they usually go to fight each other." The boy said finally speaking up again. "But there is something else we forgot to tell you."

"Oh yeah what's that" Alex said hoping for some sort of insight into where exactly the back of the woods was.

"After they took our Pokémon a girl showed up and demanded they give them back. But then they surrounded her and we got scared and ran away." The shorter of the two explained.

Alex wondered who they meant by this but instead of continuing to waste his time talking to the children decided to go see what this was about for himself. So after reassuring them that he would get their Pokémon back he sprinted into the forest to look for the idiots that led to the ruin of his break time.

As soon as he was ten yards into the forest the sun seemed to turn down several notches and the temperature dropped several degrees. Everything around him seemed to be green and he could not tell if that was because of all the plants overgrown on every surface or if the light was taking on a green hue from the leafy canopy far above his head. Most of the trees in the forest looked ancient as if they had been there for many years, centuries even.

Almost everywhere he looked there were bug Pokémon. Caterpie and Weedle slithered through the brush and up trees. Groups of Metapod and Kakuna lay under trees guarded by swarms of Beedrill and solitary Butterfree. Alex had been warned of the Beedrill by the trainers in Viridian City, they had told him to never disrupt their nest least he incur their wrath. He was told that a swarm of Beedrill could overpower the mighty Dragonite if given enough incentive.

So deciding against angering the Beedrill Alex choose not to attempt to capture one of their young and instead kept up his search for the 'Warriors of the Woods'. He laughed to himself as he remembered the name. What kind of self-respecting gang would name themselves something like that it was so cliché.

As he pondered other better names for a gang Alex began to hear a buzzing sound. He looked around praying he had not upset a hive of Beedrill. After he got a good look towards the sound he saw that it was nothing more than a Heracross. Briefly he considered trying to catch it as it looked strong and could be a valuable asset to his team. But before he could act on these thoughts a figure jumped from the tree above him and walked towards the beetle Pokémon.

"Who are you and why are you trespassing in my woods?" The figure asked pointing to him as if to threaten him. He was wearing a black outfit not unlike that of a ninja and had a black headband around his forehead. Underneath this his hair was jet black and spiked up. He was not an imposing figure a foot shorter than Alex by Alex's own estimation. He spoke in a very quick and curt manner.

"Oh so you must be one of those warriors those two little kids were talking about. Yeah good thing you found me I've got a bone to pick with you." Alex replied casually. "You see they are rather upset and would really appreciate if you could return their Pokémon."

"What! Who do you think you are! These are my woods I will not be ordered around!"

"Yeah I'm sure, now if you will excuse me I'm going to go look for the rest of your buddies and see if they will be more accommodating." Alex said brushing off the ninja's remarks as he turned to walk away.

As he turned he heard the scream of a girl calling for help coming from the other side of a thicket of trees and ran over to investigate. As he rounded the corner a battle scene immerged, in the center of a circle of black clad figures stood none other than Victoria Evans, the trainer who had defeated him on Route 1, and her Cubone. They were surrounded on all sides by bug Pokémon and Cubone was doing all it could to keep them at bay.

Alex rushed over to her side and sent out his Magnemite prepared to defeat a horde of Caterpie and Weedle. This proved unnecessary as the Heracross and its master whom he had spoken to earlier walked over to the group and a hushed silence fell among the ranks of the woodland gang.

"Now I have you surrounded and you have to listen to me!" the small man said excitedly

"No, actually I don't I think I'm fully prepared to take on these punks." Alex replied defiantly gesturing to the crowd around him. Victoria shot him a look as if to ask him what he was doing but he ignored it. "In fact I think I have a deal for you. You let us go and give me back those kids Pokémon and I don't send you all home crying." Obviously offended by Alex's complete lack of respect for the position he was in the leader of the group grew furious and began to yell at Alex.

"These are My Woods! My Woods do you understand!" He Screamed his voice shaking "If you want to pass you must pay a toll or deal with the consequences."

"Which are what exactly?" Alex asked as if bored by the whole affair.

"You will have to face me and my mighty Heracross in a one-on-one Battle!" He screamed completely out of control at this point. "And We WILL DESTROY YOU!"

Alex replied cheerfully "But if I win then you have to return the Pokémon you stole."

"That will never happen!" The fake ninja said with conviction "Now prepare to taste defeat!" And with this last threat his Heracross jumped to his side ready to fight.

"Alright Starly let's do this!" Alex cried "Use a Quick Wing combo." Starly used its combination of Quick Attack and Wing Attack it had learned last battle to swoop around behind Heracross and landed a direct shot. Unfortunately it hit Heracross's armor and though the attack overbalanced Heracross and caused it to flip it sustained no real damage.

"Alright Heracross use Fury Attack!" Shouted the tiniest ninja of all

"Starly dodge!" Starly managed to dodge around as Heracross threw punches scratched and swung its horn in a frenzy. "Keep it up let it tire its self out."

"Now Heracross use Horn Attack!" The bug Pokémon stopped mid punch and with its horn glowing swung its head up catching Starly with a blow to the stomach. Starly fell to the ground and lay on its back in pain. "Now Tackle the puny bird and make sure it can't get up!"

"What! That's unnecessarily cruel!" Victoria complained loudly "there is no reason for that you jackass!" Alex however wasn't nearly as worried as she was and remained calm.

"Starly use Wing Attack on its unprotected stomach as it comes down!" Alex ordered knowing full well that Starly was not as hurt as he seemed to be. To everyone but Alex's surprise Starly sprung up and sent Heracross flying with a super effective attack. Heracross rolled in the bushes for a while unable to continue.

"What! No, impossible I can't have lost!" The Black dressed man cried "No matter seize them they can't take you all down!" He yelled to his minions. But when he turned around he found they had all scattered the moment he lost. With one look towards Alex he turned back towards Viridian City to return what he had stolen.

Alex turned to Victoria and asked her if she was alright. She said she was and that she was grateful for his help.

"Eh don't worry about it I hate bullies." He responded as they walked towards Pewter City "Had to deal with a hell of one back in Viridian."

"Oh really did you now and who was that I might ask." Victoria questioned nervously.

"His name was Taylor and he seemed to think that because I was from Pallet Town I would let him push me around."

"I was afraid you would say that. H has been a bit of a problem around town for a while now but he's getting a bit old for people to ignore it anymore. So how did you er, deal with him?"

"Pokémon battle. Beat him pretty easily and he didn't take very well, said he would get better then defeat me."

"You mean he left?" Victoria asked stopping to look at Alex "He left the city and his gang?"

"Yeah he did, a couple hours before I did actually." Alex replied as they continued their walking. "is that a big deal?"

"Are you kidding me? I've been trying to get him to go with me for years! I always thought that getting out of that city would do him some good. Well I'm glad that you got him to leave even if I couldn't."

"you're welcome I guess. I didn't realize it was such a big deal. Anyways it looks like the forest is thinning out up here are you staying at the Pokémon Center?"

"No actually I have family in Pewter so I will be with them during my stay. In fact they live right up there" She said pointing to a house just outside the forest. "So good luck on your gym fight and maybe I'll see you around." With that and a wave she walked towards the house and Alex turned the other way to pewter City and his first gym badge.